Liriope and Day Lilies

Ok, I really did cut back the Liriope and it wasn't that hard!  My big pruners are in good shape and still nice and sharp.  I made up a good technique- you kind of have to bundle them together to reach the bottom, and you can't really hold it with one hand and cut with the other, and then you have leaves everywhere to clean up.  So I thought, maybe there's a better way... and I used a hair tie to make a little Liriope ponytail, chop it off at the base, and pick up the whole severed clump and throw it out (pulling off the hair tie).  No mess, super easy.  I think I might be a genius.

While I was doing that, my neighbor came by and we were talking and she said she doesn't really think we're going to get any mulch this year.  She knows what's going on a lot better than I do.  I'm fine with not getting mulch, obviously.  And she is too!  She got Dog Vomit Fungus in her yard last year, and she has noticed that it's just all sitting there forever, and now if she wants to plant something, she's just planting in 6 inches deep of wood mulch.  I very deliberately didn't ever tell her not to use wood mulch, because people like that are super annoying, it's like telling someone to only eat organic meat, or not to smoke.  She has arrived at this conclusion on her own, for her own reasons.  And it's not like she's just decided to be ok with it once she learned she wasn't getting any mulch; that is not how she rolls.  I think if she was expecting it and then learned that service was cut due to lack of funds, she'd actually push harder for it.

She did say she'd rather not use any wood mulch and then just spray the shit out of every weed she sees.  And I didn't say anything.  Someone on "the board" asked her not to, because it's poisonous to dogs, and I did jump in and say, yeah, that's true, pets have died.  Luckily she plans to put up a sign, which is actually really responsible and I don't think most people do that.  Also she wants dogs to stop peeing on her stuff.  All good stuff.

For some strange reason, she wants to get rid of all the Day Lilies in there.  And I don't know why, it's like the only thing that's really going strong, it's the only mature planting she has.  It is kind of densely packed over there in that sunnier part, and as she said, it's not like it's going to spread laterally to fill another 10 feet.  I've been seriously envious of them every time I walk past.  A large planting of mature, reblooming Day Lilies is like, the best thing you can have in a perennial bed.

And yet, my neighbor wants to get rid of these.  She's actually asked that someone come and dig them all out, and she did say she wanted them to plant them somewhere else on the property but I bet they won't, because no one cares enough to do that.  She said I was welcome to them if I want to come and dig them out!  Free plants!   Yesterday as I was looking at my space I was seriously thinking of buying more Day Lilies to fill it out- a bag of 18 bare root little yellow Johnny One Note Day Lilies is only $60 from White Flower Farm.  I think she's got like, at least 30 and as much as 50 fully grown plants.  These are the big orange ones, what I call "Roadside Day Lilies."  The internet seems to also call them that.  They're big and flashy and they live forever and grow in anything.  They get really tall, like 4 feet.  With that in mind, they are kind of inappropriate for the location they are in now- they're right up against the sidewalk by the door, and then there's a ton of empty space behind them.  I mean, I've done stupid stuff like that, I can't be too judgmental.  So she wants them out, and I am happy to take them.  I'm going to put them in the sidewalk bed.  Their height and size would be too much for the front bed.

So while she was there and we were talking about what she could grow she was pointing out the Lirope in the sidewalk bed.  It is a great plant, even easier than a Day Lily.  You do need to cut them back, but as I saw yesterday, the whole process took like 20 minutes and very little physical effort.  She's mainly interested in them because they stay there all year and they are pretty much green throughout the winter.  I like them because they just do exactly what you expect- you know how tall they are going to get (like, less than a foot, not counting the flowers) and you know how much they are going to spread, and you know right where they are all the time.

My original plan was to dig up the bigger Liriope in the sidewalk bed and divide them, and replant them to make some kind of a border.  There are a few reasons for this.

1. Some of them I think actually need to be divided- the biggest one looks like it's got a dead patch in the middle.  This isn't as awful looking as the ornamental grasses were, but it's just going to get worse.  
2. Dividing them makes more plants, and more coverage.  One big plant that's like, 16 inches in diameter at the base, will spread and make a mound that's like, 20 inches in diameter.  But if I break that into four plants that are like, 8 inches in diameter, they spread into four plants that are a foot wide.  
3. They should be in the front, because they are short.  They look dumb mixed in there with the really tall grasses, or behind that crazy Yarrow plant.  
4. I have lots of other things I want to plant in there, like the Rudbeckia, and I'm not really sure where I can put it.  
5. I want to make a kind of a border with them along the sidewalk. I think that will make it look more complete and deliberate, like someone knew what they were doing.  And I think it will make a barrier to weeds.  I notice all the weeds seem to start at the edges for some reason, and they make their way in to the center over time.  And the soil at the edge is probably the worst, it seems to be the driest.  

So when I told my neighbor I was going to divide them and replant them, we decided to trade plants.  I can take her Day Lilies and I can replace them with some boring-ass Liriope.  That's actually a great plan.  We get the plants we want, for free, and create more plants in the process.  And there's less digging involved.  Once I get the Liriope out of there, I can just plant the Day Lilies in those same spots, more or less.   

My only concern is that now I won't have as much Liriope left to put back in there in the front.  I've got 5 really big ones that actually need to be divided, and a few smaller ones.  Let's say the 5 big ones can each be divided into 4, and those will still be pretty big.  I don't think I could fit more than 10 in the space she has.  Well, in the specific area where the Day Lilies are.  She could pretty much fill that area with Liriope, and have a Liriope bank like Longwood Gardens has in the parking lot.  But we only really need to fill that part by the sidewalk right away.  

Speaking of Liriope- I've got all those little bunches that I pulled out of the patio bed, and they are still sitting in containers, on the patio wall, as if I'm deliberately displaying them or something.  They look really dreadful, but I think that's ok.  They only look worse than the ones in the ground because they were not in the ground, protecting themselves, and their leaves got all beat up.  I don't think they could possible be really truly dead.  They are the toughest plant ever, hardy to Zone 5, and we had the mildest winter ever.  I was kind of hoping they would spontaneously regrow on their own, but I think I need to cut them back as well.  I mean, that ought to be easy.  I could bring them inside and do it while sitting on the couch.  (Don't do that.)  But I'm saying, they are totally available for planting now, to fill out a nice border either for me or my neighbor.